


Jathea week day 4 prompt: anime and/or Japanese culture!Jathea

by soapsuds



Category: The Rich Man's Daughter (TV)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-08-26
Updated: 2015-09-11
Packaged: 2018-04-17 08:54:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 11,259
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4660395
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/soapsuds/pseuds/soapsuds
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Mismatched blind date trope: Batchi sets up fashionista!Jade with otaku!Althea.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Batchi's scheme

**Author's Note:**

> This is turning out longer than I expected! I had some ideas that couldn't fit into a one-shot fic so I'll be posting chapters over the next few weeks as I complete each one, though I'll post the first few chapters of this for Jathea week.
> 
> I assure you a happy Jathea ending. I've stopped writing angsty fics - I save the drama for real life, y'know? :p  
> I'm not really into anime anymore, and this fic is just silly, cracky fluff with references to anime that I used to watch. Glaiza being a real otaku cracks me up for some reason and that's pretty much the inspiration for this fic, lol :D

“Type mo sya!” (translation: “She’s your type!”)

Jade sighed, paused her reading for a second and peered over at Batchi from the latest copy of Vogue.

At seeing Jade’s skeptical look, Batchi protested, “Totoo! Tsong, ba’t naman ako magsisinungaling sa ‘yo??” (translation: “It’s true! Buddy, why would I even lie to you??”)

Jade put down her magazine and took a small sip of her tea.

“Batchi, hindi ako desperada, ha. Hindi mo ko kailangan i-setup sa blind date.” (translation: “Batchi, I’m not desperate. You don’t need to set me up on a blind date.”)

“Uy! Hindi ‘to dahil sa desperada ka, ‘no?! Umm, kasi…” (translation: “Hey! This isn’t because you’re desperate alright?! It’s because…”)

“Kasi desperada yung kaibigan mo?”, Jade questioned jokingly. (translation: “Because your friend is desperate?”)

“Ah, hindi ha! Hindi ganoon si Althea! Magandang maganda yun ha! Kadami dami ngang naka-linya ng babae para sa kanya eh!” (translation: “Ah, no! Althea’s not like that! She’s very pretty! There’s so many women lining up for her!”)

With Jade’s expression still remaining skeptical, Batchi threw her hands up.

“Ok fine, whatever! Bahala ka na sa buhay mo! Sa iba ko na lang ise-setup si Althea. Your loss, tsong! Lagi kang reklamo na walang single na femme. Sabi mo pa nga, and I quote ‘all the ones I meet are taken or straight!’. Pero ito nga, may single femme ako na gusting ma-introduce sa ‘yo, eh ayaw mo naman!” (translation: “Ok fine, whatever! Do what you want in your life! I’m just going to set up Althea with someone else. Your loss, buddy! You’re always the one complaining that there are no single femmes. You even said, and I quote ‘all the ones I meet are taken or straight!’. But here I am trying to introduce a single femme to you, but you don’t even want to meet her!”)

Batchi turned her nose up in the air and made a dramatic turning motion and started towards the door. She hid her smirk as Jade predictably sighed and asked her to come back.

“Just one date lang, ha Batchi? Pag pangit sya, you’re going to owe me forever!” (translation: “Just one date okay, Batchi? If she’s ugly, you’re going to owe me forever!”)

Batchi grinned and told Jade the time and address of the cafe to meet Althea at, then bounced out of the room. Jade picked up her magazine again and muttered to herself, “You had better be a 10, Althea.”

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

“Type mo sya!” (translation: “She’s your type!”)

Althea sighed, paused her reading for a second and peered over at Batchi from the 17th volume of Shingeki no Kyojin.

At seeing Althea’s skeptical look, Batchi felt a tad unnerved by a strange sense of deja vu, but put on her best “sincere” face anyway.

“Tsong, totoo! Have I ever let you down??” (translation: “Buddy, it’s true! Have I ever let you down??”)

Althea rolled her eyes and refrained from going into another tirade about that time that Batchi introduced her to Wila and how it was her most disastrous relationship ever.

Batchi clasped her hands in front of Althea in the “begging” pose.

“Please naman, Althea! Nag-agree na sya! ‘Wag mo naman i-stand up. Kawawa naman!” (translation: “Pretty please, Althea! She already agreed! Don’t stand her up. She’ll look pitiful!”)

“Eh ba’t mo kasi sinabi na payag na ‘ko sa date? Batchi naman, baka isipin nya desperada ako!” (translation: “Why did you say that I already agreed to the date? Batchi, she might think I’m desperate!”)

Batchi gulped and shook her head.

“Uy, ah hindi ganoon si Jade! Mabait yon!” (translation: “Hey, umm Jade’s not like that! She’s nice!”)

At Althea’s unconvinced expression, Batchi blurted out what was sure to twist Althea’s arm. “Ang ganda ganda nya, tsong! Kahawig ni Asami!” (translation: “She’s very pretty, buddy! She looks like Asami!”)

Althea paused and pretended to continue reading her manga. Batchi hid her grin behind her hand. She knew she had this in the bag!

Althea finally put her manga down and sighed again loudly. “O, saan kami magme-meet?” (translation: “Where are we meeting?”)

Batchi let out a small laugh as she told Althea the address of the cafe and the time she was scheduled to meet Jade, then practically waltzed out of the room.

Althea groaned and face-palmed. “Ugh! Why did I say yes??”

 


	2. The blind date

Jade fiddled with the menu as she glanced around the cafe. She thought she had arrived fashionably late but this Althea was nowhere to be seen. She huffed and resolved to give Batchi a piece of her mind when she got back to the office.

Though to be fair, she really should have asked Batchi for a more detailed description of Althea instead of nodding when Batchi said “she’s pretty and has hair round up to here *vague hand gestures to a couple of inches above her shoulder*”.

Jade does another sweep of the cafe before her gaze settles on another patron a few tables away who was engrossed in some kind of comic book. The comic book blocked Jade’s view of their face, though by the look of their hands, it was obviously a woman. A woman with an intriguing wrist tattoo. Jade wasn’t usually a fan of people who got Chinese character tattoos since most didn’t seem to know what the symbols meant, but the with the background colours and the placement on the wrist, this woman made it work.

Jade’s staring must have gotten too obvious because the woman started lowering her book to peer at her over the top of it. Jade attempted to look away quickly to pretend she had not been staring all along but found herself unable to turn her head at the sight of a lovely pair of big brown eyes. The woman lowered the rest of the book and set it down on the table, and Jade felt her heart sink into her stomach. This woman was stunningly beautiful! But… she was wearing a black T-shirt with some cartoonish characters with purple and pink hair drawn on it. How could someone soooo beautiful have zero fashion sense?? Jade frowned and shook her head. Such a waste! Such tragedy!

She continued to stare blatantly at the woman’s features, from her wonderful eyes to her perfect nose and lips, strong jawline and her pretty hair… Hair that was close to the length that Batchi described… Jade felt her heart sink even deeper into her stomach.

The woman stood up from her chair and started enthusiastically waving her over like a kid. Jade resisted the urge to smack her head down onto the table and gingerly picked up her Louis Vuitton handbag and slowly walked over.

“Hi! I’m Althea. You must be Jade.”

Althea held her hand out for Jade to shake which Jade ignored.Seeing Althea’s tacky T-shirt up close was distracting her. What even was a “Utena”??

Althea’s smile faded as she noticed Jade’s scrutiny of her T-shirt and she sat back down on her chair.

“What time did you get here?”, Jade asked, unable to keep a slight bit of irritation creeping into her tone.

“Around 20 minutes ago?”

“Really? And you’ve just been sitting here the whole time.”

“Umm, yes?”. Althea started getting an uneasy feeling and she tried to subtly put the manga she was reading back into her backpack.

“Didn’t Batchi describe how I looked to you?”

Althea pondered the risk of telling Jade that she had been looking for an Asami clone to breeze in through the cafe but got too engrossed in her manga to look up. Jade was certainly stunning as Batchi had promised and Althea could barely tear her eyes away... but she was giving off an incredibly snooty vibe which Althea had experienced all too often in her younger and more otaku years.

At Althea’s frozen deer-in-headlights look, Jade sighed and sat in the chair opposite. She cleared her throat and tried to restart the meeting on a more polite footing. “Hmmmph, never mind. Let’s start from the beginning. So Althea… how do you know Batchi?”

Althea tried to snap out of the nervous mood that was starting to creep over her. “Ah, well we grew up together. She’s been my best friend since elementary. Umm, how about yourself? Saan kayo nagkakila?” (translation of last sentence: “Where did you meet?”)

“She does some part-time work for my business sometimes. We met at random and I saw that she was wearing these designer frames and an interesting ensemble. So the androgynous look is always in and asked her to do a test shoot and help out with selections for the next season. She really does have a great fashion sense…”. Jade trailed off and made the mistake of not being able to hide her wince as she glanced at Althea’s t-shirt again. Althea tried not to frown as she noticed this and tried to plod the conversation along.

“So yeah, I heard your line of work is in fashion. Soooo, what exactly do you do all day?”

Jade gave a tight smile and tried not to overreact at Althea’s innocent question. It was just that she’d heard the same question over and over before in a more derogatory tone, especially from naysayers and even ones from her family who thought she was just a spoiled socialite who went shopping for shoes all day.

“Well, I source a lot of unique pieces from overseas and provide styling consultation services to clients over here.”

Althea clapped her hands together and said “Ah so! You’re in the import business!” and squinting and nodding. Jade was startled by the weird yet cute gesture. “I’m in the import business too!”, Althea said enthusiastically, finally relieved that she might have something to talk to about with Jade.

However… the next 20 minutes of the date just resulted in further awkwardness and irritation between the two. Althea started off enthusiastically describing her shop where she sold anime DVDs, mangas and figurines, and how she had built it from the ground up ever since graduating from college. Jade looked like a mixture of bored and unimpressed, then made the mistake of saying her opinion out loud that she can’t see the difference between anime and Disney cartoons for kids. Althea was fuming inside but prevented her teenage self from roaring out in defence of otakus everywhere. She changed the topic to ask Jade more questions about her business. In the middle of Jade name-dropping brands like Louis Vuitton, Donna Karan, Armani, Prada, Yves Saint-Laurent, etc. etc., Althea failed to suppress a yawn which Jade pretended to ignore but really pissed her off.

Finally, a waitress came round to take their order, but this came with yet another bout of silent judgement between the two. Althea orders a matcha green tea latte which Jade thinks looks like a cup full of mould, while Jade orders black coffee with no sugar which Althea secretly thinks is the choice drink of bitter assholes everywhere.

The conversation drifts to a weird passive-aggressive argument about shipping costs - a topic that both had mistakenly thought to be a safe one since they both shipped goods in from overseas for their businesses. Jade claims she never orders in bulk because an item will become too mainstream and no longer a unique fashion piece. Althea claims she never has any issue with ordering in bulk because her selection of books and DVDs from overseas always sells out.

Getting desperate to find something else to talk about, Jade looks around and notices Althea’s watch.

“That’s kind of an interesting design. Is that by a local designer?”

“No, it’s the Attack on Titan logo. Isn’t it awesome? I really like the look of it too.”

Jade pursed her lips and looked away from the watch. This woman was dressed head to toe in cartoon merchandise. Batchi was soooo dead!

At seeing Jade’s unsmiling face, Althea felt embarrassed and pulled her hand away from the table and held it against her side so it wouldn’t be in Jade’s line of sight. This woman was so snooty and condescending. Batchi was sooooo dead!

Suddenly, both their phones go off, indicating a new text message. Both relieved at having something else to do, they reached into their bags to get their phones. Unknown to both, they each received the exact same message from Batchi.

“ ‘musta ang date?? Penge update naman pls!” (translation: “How’s the date?? Give me an update pls!”)

Althea and Jade both start furiously typing a reply at the same time to send a series of complaints, curse words and threats to Batchi, to which Batchi replied back with a series of excuses and pleas to give the date one more chance. After close to 15 minutes of furious typing, both looked up to notice what the other was doing. Every time Batchi sent a new reply, both their phones would go off.

Althea finally loses her temper. “Hoy, alam ko na ako ang pinagrereklamo mo dyan kay Batchi. Pwede ba, kung may gusto kang sabihin, sabihin mo na lang?!” (translation: “Oi, I know that I’m the one you’re complaining about to Batchi. Please, if you have something to say, just say it!”)

Jade glares angrily across the table. “Eh ikaw din, ‘di ba? Ako siguro and pinagmumumura mo sa mga text mo! If you have something to say, say it to my face!” (translation: “It’s you too, isn’t it? I’m sure I’m the one that you are cursing about in your texts! If you have something to say, say it to my face!”)

“Okay! Kung gusto mong makita ang text, eh di ite-text ko sa yo!” (translation: “Okay! If you want to see the text, then I’ll text it to you!”)

“Fine! Give me your number and I’ll text you directly too!”

They swapped phones to bash out their numbers. Jade took her phone back and saved Althea under “Anime loser” and Althea saved her as “Jologs fashion bitch”(translation: “Tacky fashion bitch”).

They both threw some bills on the table to cover the bill and grabbed their bags to storm out.

As soon as Jade got into her car, she got a new text message from “Anime loser”.

“Worst. Date. Ever!”

Jade fumes and starts typing a series of swear words. On realizing what she’s doing, she takes and deep breath, erases the stream of curses, and simply sends an emoticon of a hand with the middle finger stuck up. “Like Coco Chanel would say, less is more”, Jade thought to herself as she tucked her phone into her bag.

She suddenly heard her phone go off again as she was driving and she furiously grabbed it out of her bag, ready to reply to any new insults from Althea. She was somewhat deflated to find that the new message was from her best friend, Sally, instead. Sally had been making more of an effort in the last year to be supportive of her after they became estranged when Jade came out of the closet. Sally still made the occasional ignorant remark, but Jade had to give her credit for trying harder recently to be mend their friendship.

Jade wasn’t so sure how to reply to Sally’s latest text though… It simply said “‘musta na, mare? Get any hot chicks numbers lately?? ;-)” (translation: “How’s it going, buddy? Get any hot chicks number lately?? ;-)” )

Yes, she did indeed get a new number today, Jade thought. She scratched her head at that afternoon’s irritable experience and resolved to visit Batchi the next day to give her a piece of her mind.

 


	3. Matchmaker in trouble

 

~~~~~ … the next day … ~~~~~~

 

Althea burst into Batchi’s office to rage at her for setting her up on the ridiculously mismatched blind date. To her surprise, a certain someone had already beaten her to the punch…

Jade shouts out angrily, “Batchi, how could you do that to me?? Akala ko ba magkaibigan tayo?! May kasalanan ba ko sa yo?!” (translation: “Batchi, how could you do that to me?? I thought we were friends?! Did I do something to offend you?!”)

Althea decides to launch into her own tirade and join the action, “Oo nga, Batchi! Ba’t mo naman ginawa sa ‘min yon?! Is this some kind of prank?!” (translation: “That’s right, Batchi! Why did you do that to us?! Is this some kind of prank?!”)

Jade turns towards Althea. “Anong prank?! Are you calling me a joke?!” (translation: “What prank?! Are you calling me a joke?!”)

Althea steps forward angrily, “Eh ang bilis mo naman mag-jump to conclusions! Akala ko ba, pareho tayong inis sa setup na ‘to?!” (translation: “You’re so quick to jump to conclusions! I thought we were both annoyed at this setup?!”)

“Ikaw ang hindi marunong umintindi!” (translation: “You’re the one who doesn’t know how to understand!”)

“Tinatawag mo ba kong tanga?!” (translation: “Are you calling me stupid?!”)

A scared Batchi steps in between them before it escalates further.

“Hayyyy, please wag naman tayong mag-fight. O sige sige, kasalanan ko na! Honest mistake lang to, okay? Sabihin nyo na na ako ang tanga.” (translation: “Heyyyy, please let’s not fight. Okay okay, it’s my fault! It was an honest mistake, okay? You can say that I’m the stupid one.”)

Still fuming, Jade and Althea were still glaring at each other, but slowly stepped back. They still looked angry and ready to pounce at each other any second though. Batchi gulped and decided that she was going to have to kick up the peace-making up a notch.

“O sige sige, drinks are on me tonight! Labas tayo after work, okay? Order kayo ng kahit ano! Please lang naman, guys. Yun na ang sorry ko!” (translation: “Okay okay, drinks are on me tonight! Let’s go out after work, okay? You can order anything! Please, guys. That’s my apology!”)

Jade and Althea finally broke their glaring contest and looked at Batchi. Batchi looked at them both sheepishly. “O, shake hands na kayo? Please?” (translation: “Oh, can you shake hands? Please”)

The two tentatively looked at each other before finally shaking hands. An electric current ran up both their arms. Jade had to bite her tongue to resist making a crack about cheap, synthetic material, while Althea resisted accusing Jade of having an electric shock handshake prank device.

The trio agreed to meet at 8pm at nightclub having a lesbian event that night before going their separate ways.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter: Alcohol + Althea dressed up as Tifa Lockhart. Jathea get down on the dance floor like Sims.


	4. At the club

Althea defiantly strides into the club wearing short shorts, suspenders, a tank top that exposed her flat stomach and steel-toed boots, a la Tifa Lockhart from FF7. She sees Batchi and Jade already standing by the bar. She had decided to forgo the fingerless boxing gloves to make the outfit somewhat a little passable as just a cute, funky outfit instead of pure cosplay. As she got closer to the bar, she noticed Jade was wearing a short black dress. Classy… yet boring.

Althea strolls over to greet them, practically daring Jade to say something. Jade purses her lips and finds herself unable to say anything. Damn, Althea’s legs looked amazing in those short shorts! But the rest of her ensemble was clearly a reference to something Jade didn’t know about, and it was pissing her off irrationally. She tore her eyes away from Althea to look at something else, and suddenly noticed that several other women in the club were looking in their direction. Specifically, they were staring appreciatively at Althea’s exposed stomach and legs.  “This is some Harajuku shit right here”, Jade seethed to herself silently.

Batchi, sensing the tension, immediately orders a whole tray of shots. The bartender, also noticing imminent explosion, hurries up and pours the drinks.

Batchi hands over several shot glasses each to Jade and Althea. “O, eto na drinks! Let’s get this party started!” (translation: “Here’s the drinks! Let’s get this party started!”)

Jade immediately snatches up a glass and downs it. She winces a little but then catches a glimpse of Althea’s legs again, and hurriedly picks up another glass and finishes that off too.

Althea is puzzled and is about to make a remark when Batchi suddenly elbows her in the side. “Uy, ikaw din! Start ka na!” (translation: “Hey, you too! Start as well!”)

Althea shrugs and picks up a shot glass and drinks it. Batchi shoves another one into her hand almost immediately so she drinks that as well…

 

~~~~~ … 3 hours later … ~~~~~~

 

Jade’s vision was starting to swim. She was sure she had said something extremely logical to prove her point earlier but now couldn’t remember what it was that she said. Batchi was nowhere to be seen ever since she got a phone call from Abby around an hour ago, so there was no one to assist Jade in winning this debate.

“… and that is why Battle Royale is better than The Hunger Games! *hic* ”, Althea slurred triumphantly.

Althea was now leaning slightly on the bar to keep her balance and was sporting a drunken grin. “She has such a pretty smile”, Jade thought to herself. Catching on to what Althea just said, she scoffed and replied, “Well it doesn’t have J-Law in it *hic* ! H-how can it be better if s-she’s not there??”.

Althea took another swig of the Long Island Iced Tea that Batchi had subtly placed in her hand earlier. “Ugh, no wayyyy!”

“Yesss way!”

At that moment, Batchi came round to their side of the bar again. “O, kumusta na kayong dalawa? Walang nag-aaway? Drink pa moooore!” (translation: “Oh, how are you two? No fighting? Drink some moooore!”)

Althea makes a “time out! no more!” motion with her hands. “Batchhhh! Sooobra na! Time ouuuttt naman, please! *hic*” (translation: “Batchhhh! It’s too much! Time out, please! *hic* ”)

Jade agrees and orders them both some glasses of water which Althea gratefully gulps down. Jade says to Batchi, “Uyyy, Batchi ha. Nilalasheng mo ata kami! *hic* G-gusto mo ata… magka-beer goggles ako… para patulan ko yang kaibigan mo ah *hic* ” (translation: “Heyyy Batchi. I think you’re trying to get us drunk! *hic* I think you w-want… me to have beer googles… so I would hit on your friend eh *hic*”)

Althea is too drunk to get really mad, but she senses something insulting about her was just said, so she just pouts cutely. Jade giggles at the sight.

The group of women in the club who had been watching Althea earlier suddenly walks up to her and make cooing noises. One of them even steps closer and pinches her cheek. “Ay, ang cute mo!” (translation: “Hey, you’re so cute!”)

Althea tries to bat the random girl’s hand away but is too drunk to be effective. Jade notices her discomfort and turns to Batchi to ask if this happens all the time and Batchi says yeah.

“Aren’t you going to do anything??”, Jade asks in an annoyed tone.

Batchi sighs. “Ay naku, ilang beses na ata ako nasigawan ng mga galit na chix ngayon. Dadagdagan ko pa?” (translation: “Oh gosh, I’ve been yelled at by angry chicks several times today already. Should I really add to that?”)

Jade huffs and decides to step up to the girl man-handling Althea.

“Excuse me, do you have any manners? Kilala mo ba sya??” (translation of last sentence: “Do you know her??”)

The girl lets go of Althea and sheepishly backs away. The other women also back off and walk back to their corner of the club.

Althea tentatively offers Jade a grateful smile and Jade smiles back. “hulk!Jade is kinda hot”, Althea thinks in her head.

Just then, “I’m Too Sexy” by Right Said Fred starts blasting from the club speakers. Batchi rolls her eyes and says, “Ang corny!”(translation: “So corny!”) and is surprised when Jade suddenly shouts out “Oh ehm geeeee! Thisss isss myyy sooong, yo!”. Jade grabs Althea by her suspenders and drags her to the dance floor.

Batchi is aghast when the two start doing some weird catwalk dance where they keep sashaying past each other. “Lintik naman ‘tong dalawa o. Ang baduy!” (translation: “Damn these two. So tacky!”). She looks around the club, hoping people won’t permanently associate her with her dorky friends. When her eyes fall back on the dancing duo, they are now dancing face to face, waving their hands in the air. She laughs to herself and takes her mobile phone out to take pictures.

 

~~~~~ … the next morning, on Facebook album comments … ~~~~~~

 

Althea Guevarra: “Batchi!!! Delete mo yan!!! (T__T) ” (translation: “Batchi!!! Delete this!!! *crying emoticon*”)

Jade T: “OMG Batchi, stop posting this!! You’re sooo dead!”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter: Somebody gets dressed up again :D


	5. What are you wearing?

After a hangover that seemed to last forever, Jade tried to put the previous night’s events behind her and get back to work. But even 3 days later, she still found herself randomly thinking of Althea in her short shorts at the club, and it was making her feel more and more perplexed. "What the heck is going on with me?!", Jade thought worriedly. She did her best to distract herself by accepting more styling consultation requests than usual.

When an opportunity came up to assist at a fashion event, she jumped at the chance to help promote her growing company even though she would be working pro bono. Additional hours of work meant more distraction! She even volunteered to help scope out a nearby convention centre during her lunch break to help see if the venue had a suitable layout for the show.

Dressed in her formal business attire of tailored pants, ladies blazer and high heels, she left her office to go to the convention centre. She always felt good about herself whenever she wore her power suit for work. When she arrived at the convention centre, a staff member welcomed her and notified her that there was currently an event being held that day. She walked through the door to the main hall so she could begin her inspection of the venue.

The sight that greeted Jade’s eyes when she walked through the door was something that she did not expect at all. The convention centre was crowded, lively and very… colourful. There were people of all ages dressed up in costumes and wigs that Jade could not recognize. There were random squeals of “Kawaii!” and other fangirly shrieking ringing around the stadium. Jade noticed one of the stalls had a sign with a very familiar-looking logo of wing feathers that she was sure she had seen before...

Just as it finally dawned on her where she had seen the logo before, a grey and white mascot that looked like a cross between a cat and a bunny started ambling towards her while waving its arms. It was rather large and bulky. Due to its size, it could not walk very fast and had to make cute little hop and skip motions to move forward. Jade could hear a muffled sound behind the mask but could not figure out what the person inside the costume was saying. She walked closer to hear better...

“Jade!”

Were her ears really hearing correctly?? Did this fat cat-bunny mascot just call her name?? She walked even closer to the big bundle of fur to listen again.

“Jade! Jade! It’s me!”

Jade’s heart started to sink to her stomach. The voice certainly sounded familiar and a small part of her subconscious already had a fairly certain guess on who it was…

The fat cat-bunny stopped a metre away from her and took off the head of the costume to reveal themselves.

“Jade! Kumusta na? I didn’t know you were coming to this anime convention! Nag-setup ako ng stall dito para i-promote yung store!” (translation: “Jade! How are you? I didn’t know you were coming to this anime convention! I set up a stall here to promote my store!”)

“Althea… no, I’m not here for, umm… that. And w-why are you dressed as Pikachu?”, Jade said looking confused and a little bit freaked out.

Althea rolled her eyes at Jade and barely refrained herself from stamping her feet as she would have done in her teenage days.

“Ano? Anong Pikachu?? This is so obviously Totoro!”, Althea said indignantly. (translation: “What? What Pikachu?? This is so obviously Totoro!”)

“Well how am I supposed to know that??”, asked Jade incredulously.

“Have you been living under a rock?? It’s a Studio Ghibli classic! Everybody’s seen at least one of their films!”, Althea said defensively.

Jade bristled at the insinuation that she was behind the times on something, even if it was some film studio she had never heard of. She resisted the urge to give Althea one little push which would most certainly send her toppling over in the bulky suit. She slowly counted to 10 in her head while glaring at Althea who was glaring back.

Suddenly, a voice screamed out “OMG, it’s a limited edition!!!” which turned many heads in the crowd. Confused, Jade wondered to herself, “limited edition of what?”.

This did not seem to matter to a whole bunch of kids who suddenly started barging past them to find out what this rare, limited edition of whatever was. The unruly crowd jostled past Jade and Althea in their hurry, which caused Althea to suddenly start losing her balance in the suit. She let out a girly shriek as she began falling face-first to the floor.

On instinct, Jade quickly moved forward and grabbed at her. Due to the high heels she was wearing and the awkwardness of holding on to something so round and bulky, they ended up spinning a little bit and Jade managed to stop Althea from hitting the ground by holding her in a tango-style dip. She found herself looking directly into Althea’s eyes and they both gulped nervously at being so close. Jade couldn’t help but take a quick glances between Althea’s pretty lips and her lovely, soft brown eyes. They both subconsciously moved their faces together closer and closer...

*click! click!*

“Uyyy, ang romantic!” (translation: “Ooh, how romantic!”)

At the sound of a camera click, Jade and Althea both snapped out of their reverie to see Batchi giggling as she took pics of the two in their compromising position with her mobile phone.

“Batchi!!!”, they both shouted out angrily. They scrambled back to an upright position immediately and started running toward Batchi.

“Uh oh…”, Batchi thought to herself as she tucked her phone in her pocket and started sprinting away.

Batchi quickly looked behind her and was shocked at how fast Jade could run in high heels. Althea, still in the Totoro suit, was also surprisingly doing very nimble hop-skipping motions to get to her and was not far behind. Normally, Batchi would have stopped to point and laugh at how ridiculous Althea looked, but from the very pissed off expressions on her friends’ faces, she decided that getting away was more important. She almost regretted dropping by the convention centre today after having promised to take Althea out to lunch. These new pics were soooo going up on Facebook though!

The chase went on for almost 10 minutes until Batchi made a wrong turn due to not knowing the layout of the convention centre very well. She suddenly found herself at a dead-end corner, and gulped nervously as she turned around and saw Jade and Althea catching up to her and blocking any means of escape.

“Guys… umm, kalma naman kayo please! Biruan lang, ‘di ba?” (translation: “Guys… umm, calm down please! Just joking around, right?”)

At her friends’ angry silence and thunderous faces, Batchi gulped again and apologized silently to her wallet for having to take another hit.

“Uy, sorry na! Hindi ko ipo-post yong photos, biro lang yon! At saka… lunch is on me?” (translation: “Hey, I’m sorry already! I won’t post the photos, it was just a joke! And.. lunch is on me?”)

Just as Jade was about to launch into a tirade about how food doesn’t fix everything, a very loud grumbling sound rang out. Jade quickly glanced around to check where it came from and noticed that Althea was now blushing quite deeply.

“Maybe a lunch break could do us good…”, Althea said sheepishly as she rubbed the furry stomach of her Totoro suit a little.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter: What is Althea wearing under that Totoro suit? Can Batchi survive through lunch? Will truth serum(aka booze) somehow finds its way to Jathea’s systems again?


	6. Sorry lunch

 

~~~~~ following on from previous chapter where Batchi is bribing Jathea with lunch after taking misleading pictures of them... ~~~~~~

 

Batchi turned to Jade, waiting for her answer to the lunch invite. She hid her smirk behind her hand when she saw that Jade was now distracted by Althea unzipping herself out of the Totoro suit.

Althea made a few struggling motions as she pulled her arms in and felt for the internal zipper, then finally tugged it down and gingerly climbed out of the suit. She fanned herself in relief at finally being out of the hot compartment. Jade suddenly found herself unable to speak or breathe upon seeing Althea wearing only a loose T-shirt with a low hanging collar, short shorts(again!) and sneakers. The T-shirt had mini-Totoro icons printed on it at the front and back but Jade barely noticed as she was mostly focused on Althea’s collar bones and cleavage.

“Ahhh, sobrang init doon sa loob! Next time, baka mag-sports bra na lang kaya ako?”, Althea said obliviously as she continued to fan herself. (translation: “Ahhh, it was so hot inside! Next time, maybe I should just wear a sports bra?”)

Batchi stifled her laughter at seeing Jade swallowing nervously at Althea's musings.

“O ano? Saan tayo kakain?”, asked Althea. (translation: “So what? Where are we eating?”)

Batchi nudged Jade to wake her up out of her stupor. “Pwede ba, i-wipe mo na yang laway mo?”, Batchi whispered to Jade. (translation: “Can you please wipe up your drool?”)

Jade finally snapped out of it and said, “Ah umm, kahit saan, pwede…” (translation: “Ah umm, anywhere is fine…”)

Althea shot her an odd look which Jade pretended not to notice as they followed Batchi out of the convention centre.

 

~~~~~ at the restaurant ~~~~~~

 

Batchi chose a restaurant close to the convention centre which also served drinks. She managed to cajole her friends into taking a longer lunch break than usual; they were hard-working businesswomen and could treat themselves to flexible hours, so why not? The trio phoned their respective assistants to tell them to continue working while they were away.

When the waitress arrived with their appetizers, Jade and Althea protested when she placed two tall, cold glasses of mojitos on the table.

“Ah miss, I didn’t order this”, said Jade.

“Ako din, hindi ko ‘to order”, said Althea. (translation: “Me too, this isn’t my order.”)

“Guyssss, relax! Ako ang umorder nyan para sa inyo”, Batchi explained. (translation: “Guyssss, relax! I’m the one who ordered these for you”)

“Batchi ha, gusto mo ’ata laming lasingin uli. Hindi ‘to pwede, kailangan ko pang bumalik sa office mamaya”, said Jade sternly. (translation: “Oi Batchi, looks like you want us to get drunk again. This isn’t okay, I need to go back to the office later”)

“Oo nga naman, Batchi. Hindi ko pwede iwanan mag-isa yung mga assistants ko sa convention. Saka ang aga aga pa naman eh, ba’t gusto mo na yata maglasing!” (translation: “That’s right, Batchi. I can’t leave my assistants alone at the convention. And it’s so early, why do you want to get drunk already!”)

“Ay iisang drink lang naman, eh! Malalasing ba kayo sa isa?? Nag-order nga ako ng something minty and fresh para ma-cool down naman kayo! O, i-accept nyo naman yan para hindi na tayo magkainit init ng ulo sa isa’t isa, at makapag-relax ng konti bago tayo bumalik sa trabaho.” (translation: “It’s only one drink! Are you going to get drunk with one drink?? I ordered something minty and fresh so you would cool down! C’mon, just accept it so we can stop being so hot-headed with each other, and relax a little bit before we go back to work.”)

Jade and Althea picked up their mojitos tentatively, then both took the straw out and sniffed the drink before slowly taking a sip.

“Lintik naman o! Hindi ko ini-spike yan, ano bang tinging nyo sa kin??”, Batchi says exasperatedly. (translation: “Dammit! I didn’t spike those, what do you think of me??”)

“Double-checking lang!”, Althea said defensively. (translation: “Just double-checking!”)

“Oo nga! I don’t want anymore embarrassing pictures, okay Batchi?”, said Jade firmly. (translation: “That’s right!  I don’t want anymore embarrassing pictures, okay Batchi?”)

“Oo na! Promise ko na!”, Batchi replies while crossing her fingers behind her back. (translation: “Okay already! I promise!”)

Batchi steers the conversation to another topic, mainly about the current happenings at her event management business. Jade is surprised to find that Althea is a co-owner of Batchi’s business while also running her anime & manga store full-time. Althea explains that they started the business back when they were college students and it just grew from there. They hired employees as the business expanded, and Althea also had assistants with her at the shop, which occasionally gave her time to help Batchi out with handling some big parties every now and then.

Jade talked about starting her fashion consultancy business during her travels in Europe and the USA, and how she had met with suppliers directly to set up deals with them. Her parents did not find out until much later that she had struck out on her own, and tried to discourage her from continuing on, but by then the business had already become profitable. With all of her suppliers and clients not within the Chinese community, there was nothing they could do to stop her. Her own family’s shopping mall fortune had started to take a dive, simply because they did not know how to keep up with the more youthful trends, unlike Jade, whose business continued to grow and profit.

Althea was impressed with Jade’s story and smiled softly at her as she listened, and Jade tried not to blush from the attention. Meanwhile, Batchi carefully observed the two as they both relaxed a little more with each sip of their drink.

The trio tucked into their meals and continued with relatively neutral conversations about their various business issues such as managing profit margins, growing revenue, employee retention, etc. Being so distracted with their delicious meals and the topics of conversation, Jade and Althea don’t notice Batchi subtly waving the waitress over every few minutes to order another set of mojitos…

 

~~~~~ … 5 mojitos each later … ~~~~~~

 

“Kaya saaaabe ko nila, *hic* pag niregaluhan pa nila ko ng isaaaa pang pink na damit *hic*, baka masuka na ko ng pink!” (translation: “So I said to them, *hic* if they gift me with another piece of clothing that is pink *hic*, I might vomit pink!”)

Althea nearly fell off her seat bursting into laughter. She had no idea why what Jade said was so funny to her but she felt so light and carefree right now. Jade was also hysterical with laughter and Batchi was nervously looking around the restaurant at the other patrons who were getting irritated by how raucous her two friends were getting.

Althea took another sip of her minty, cool drink. “Ang lupit mo namannnn. Eh regalo na nga ‘di ba? *hic*”, she slurred thoughtfully. (translation: “You’re soooo mean. Eh, it was gift, wasn’t it? *hic*”)

Jade squints at Althea’s ensemble and lingers a little too long at her chest area. “Anggg sama namannnn ng tingin mo sa ‘kin *hic!* H-indi ako fashion snob, ha”, Jade slurs back. (translation: “You have suuuuchh a bad opinion of me *hic*! I’m n-not a fashion snob, okay.”)

“Eh… *hic* ano yung nangyari last week? Ba’t ang *hic* suplada mo?” (translation: “Well… *hic* what happened last week? Why were you *hic* such a snob?”)

Jade shrugs helplessly. “H-hindi ko nga alam eh. *hic* I don’t even remember what I had for breakfast this morning!” (translation: “I d-don’t even know. *hic* I don’t even remember what I had for breakfast this morning!”)

Althea laughs then burps.

Jade adds, “Anywayyy… I never said anything… *hic* about your awful clothes *hic*“

“Anoooo??(translation: “Whaaat?”) You just… *hic* youu just said *hic* that they’re awful!” 

“Huh? I did?”

“Yeahhh!”

“Well, you should *hic* trust MY opinion! I work in fashion, y’knowww…”

“Yeahh, I knowww! *hic*”

Batchi is watching the exchange and wringing her napkin nervously.  At this rate, they were going to be thrown out of the restaurant. She prayed that these two would not get into some sort of screaming match in public.

Althea slams her fist on the table, barely missing knocking her drink over and says, “ *hic* I’ve been running my own bizznezz since I was 18 *hic*, y’know! I can wear what I like ‘coz make my own monehhh, y’know?? I buy my own diamonds! *hic* I buy my own rings! *hic*!”

Jade squints at Althea for a moment, then her eyes go wide, like a lightbulb went off in her head. Batchi watched the change in her friend’s expression and hoped that with drunk clarity, Jade had finally seen how much she had in common with Althea, being the strong, savvy businesswomen that they are. Then finally, her two friends would acknowledge in public how excellent Batchi’s match-making skills were!

Jade slaps her palm on the table and excitedly says, “Oh ehhm geeee! That’s my song, yo!”

Batchi face-palms in disappointment.

Althea raises her glass to Jade and says, “Yahhh! It’s the best!!”

Jade picks up her glass as well, and they do a very sloppy, uncoordinated toast where almost half of their drinks splashes onto the table. To Batchi’s horror, the two start singing “Independent Women” very loudly.

_“Allllll the hoooneeeyyyys, who makin’ moneehhh, throw them hands up at meeehhh! Alllll the mommaaas who profit dollas, throw your hands up at meeeehhh!”_

_"Girrllll, I didn't know you could get down like that! Charlie how your aaaangeeeelsss get down like that!“_

The restaurant manager strode up to their table and addressed Batchi sternly,  “Ma’m, I think you and your friends should leave.”

Batchi sheepishly nodded and took several bills out of her wallet for the bill plus a generous tip. She started ushering her two drunk ass friends outside. She was gonna have to drive them back to their respective apartments to sober up. Still singing loudly through the carpark with the occasional burping, they finally reached Batchi’s SUV. They climbed clumsily into the backseat and Batchi sighed as she sent up a silent prayer hoping that they would not vomit in her car. She started the engine and which automatically switched on the aircon.

Althea, still in her loose T-shirt and shorts, shivered involuntarily. Jade, even through her drunken stupor, noticed Althea’s discomfort. Being too drunk to think about it too hard, Jade started shrugging off her blazer and draped it across Althea’s shoulders. Althea, delighted with the sudden warmth and with her defenses down, reached over to squeeze Jade’s hand. “Salamat! *hic*” (translation: “Thanks! *hic*”)

Jade giggled and squeezed her hand back. “P-para matakpan yung T-shirt mo *hic*. Ang baduy kasi, eh!”, she says teasingly. (translation: “I-it’s so your T-shirt can get covered up *hic*. ‘Coz it’s tacky!”)

Althea is too drunk to get mad and just laughs. She leans back against the seat and soon starts feeling sleepy. Jade also leans back, and with the traffic moving so slowly, the two soon get lulled into an afternoon nap. They subconsciously drift together closer in the backseat, and end up cuddled together in the middle, with Jade laying her head on Althea’s shoulder. Batchi looks into her rear-view mirror and stifles her giggles in case she wakes the two up. She swiftly gets her mobile phone out and takes some more pics for future blackmail material, then forwards copies to her girlfriend, Abby, for safe-keeping.

“Success!”, Batchi says to herself as she drives on.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter: Jade and Althea pretend to not remember anything about their boozy lunch! But someone ends up needing a favour...  
> Also, Jade meets Wila at Althea’s shop. Will weapons be drawn??


	7. Jill Valentine’s Day

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Have added some more notes at the end of the chapter for readers who may not get the references in this chapter or its title :D

Jade stirred alone in her bed, having a wonderful dream where she was nestled against something soft and smelled really, really good. She snuggled closer to breathe in more of the wonderful fragrance. She sighed contentedly and tried to shift even closer…

* BLAM! *

“Owwwww!”

Jade rubbed her forehead trying to feel for any bumps as she struggled to get out from the tangle of her sheets on the floor. She can’t believe she fell out of her own queen-size bed! She groaned in embarrassment. At least no one was around to witness her humiliating tumble. She supposed she could consider it to be one of the small perks of living alone in her own apartment.

She stumbled to the bathroom to look at the mirror and was relieved to see that there was no bruising or scratches. Now that she was awake, she may as well start her meticulous morning routine of working out, eating a healthy breakfast, then showering, and then doing her hair and makeup. As she went through the motions of her routine, her brain nagged at her to check Facebook one more time.

Batchi’s Facebook albums were suspiciously clear of any recent embarrassing photos. Did her friend really keep her promise like she said?? Jade thinks about it for a little bit longer, then decides to not look a gift horse in the mouth.

She drives to work without incident, settles in for a busy day of catching up with paperwork and eats lunch at her desk. She looks at her phone every once in a while and hides her disappointment when no new texts or calls come through. Finally getting fed up with the dullness of her day at around 2:30pm, she tells her secretary she’s going out for a walk to clear her mind.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Jade ends up opting to stroll through a high-end mall near her office. Passing by the beautiful window displays and looking at nice clothes always seemed to calm her as well as give her more styling ideas for her clients. Today, it didn’t seem to do the trick though. She dug into her bag to grab her phone again. Still no new messages…

“Jade!”

Jade turned around swiftly to look for who was calling her name.

“Jade! Hey!”

“Oh… hi, Abby… long time no see…”, said Jade, trying to hide her disappointment as her friend approached her.

“O Jade, kumusta na? How random na andito ka din, ‘no?” (translation: “Oh Jade, how are you? How random that you’re too, right?”)

“Yeah… medyo nag-break muna ko sa office. It’s that kind of day, y’know?” (translation: “Yeah… I took a bit of a break from the office. It’s that kind of day, y’know?”)

“O talaga? May time ka pa? Gusto mo, mag-coffee muna tayo?” (translation: “O really? Do you have more time? Want to have coffee?”)

“Okay”, Jade shrugged.

Abby picked a nice cafe inside the mall with a comfy booth. As they settled into their seats, Abby slyly looked over at Jade and said, “Sorry hindi ko nakasama sa lunch with you guys the other day. Medyo busy kasi sa office, eh.” (translation: “Sorry I couldn’t go to lunch with you guys the other day. I was a bit busy at the office.”)

At the mention of the lunch, Jade gulped and pretended to find the menu suddenly very interesting. “Oh? Which lunch?”

“Yung kasama mo sina Batchi at Althea.” (translation: “When you went with Batchi and Althea.”)

Jade fidgeted a little in her seat. “Ah… oh, that lunch... Nung isang araw pa yun.” (translation: “Ah… oh, that lunch. That was the other day.”)

“Eh kumusta na yung lunch? Anong nangyari?” (translation: “Well, how was lunch? What happened?”)

“Umm, a-anong ibig mong sabihin? It was just lunch… Nowhere fancy.” (translation: “Umm, w-what do you mean? It was just lunch… Nowhere fancy.”)

Abby had a gleam in her eye and leaned forward, “O talaga? Lunch lang?” (translation: “O really? Just lunch?”)

Batchi had shown Abby the pictures and talked about how she struggled to pull the sleeping twosome apart in the backseat while trying to drop them off their apartments. The two had awoken with a start when Batchi beeped the car horn, saw their compromising position, then scrambled to move to opposite sides of the car. Althea had practically taken a flying leap out of the car when she realised they were in front of her apartment building, dashing off with a hasty “Bye!”, forgetting that she was still wearing Jade’s blazer.

Jade gave Abby a wary look and nodded. “Oo, lunch lang, tapos… uwian na.” (translation: “Yes, just lunch… then we went home.”)

Abby grinned and was about to say something else, when a waitress arrived at their table. Jade almost sighed in relief and ordered her usual black coffee. She looked over at Abby who still had a gleam in her eye, so she hastily changed the subject. “Ah Abby, eh kumusta ka na sa trabaho mo? Permanente ka na ba talaga sa Manila?” (translation: “Ah Abby, how is your work? Are you staying here permanently in Manila?”)

Abby seemed to accept the change in subject and rambled on a little about how her new job didn’t pay as much as her contract overseas, but at least she got to see Batchi everyday. Jade nodded and sympathised with her friend and started to relax a little. Abby then asked her about her work, and Jade decided to vent a little about some of her current problems with an overseas supplier.

“Ewan, parang hindi kami magka-intindihan. Laging late yung padala nya, o kaya maling kulay na damit. Usually, pagka laging palpak na ganito, maghahanap na ako ng bang supplier, eh hindi ko magawa kasi gustong gusto ng designs niya ng isang VIP client ko.” (translation: “Dunno, It’s like we can’t understand each other. Their shipment is always late, or they send clothes with the wrong colour. Usually, if the supplier keeps making mistakes like this, I would look for a new supplier, but I can’t do it because one of my VIP clients really likes their designs.”)

“Ano ba ang problema? May language barrier ba?” (translation: “What’s the problem? Is there a language barrier?”)

“Oo, parang ganoon na nga. Medyo hirap sa Ingles, at wall din naming alam na Tagalog. Eh ako naman, walang kaalam alam na Japanese.” (translation: “Yeah, I think that’s it. They struggle with English and don’t know any Tagalog. And me, I don’t know any Japanese at all.”)

Abby’s eyes lit up. “Japanese yung supplier mo? Uy, may alam akong makakatulong sa yo!” (translation: “Your supplier’s Japanese? Hey, I know someone who can help you!”)

“That would be really awesome, Abby.  Translator ba young kilala mo? Magkano ang rate? Available ba on short notice?” (translation: “That would be really awesome, Abby. Is the person you know a translator? How much is their rate? Are they available on short notice?”)

“Wag kang magalala, Jade. Sigurado kong libre ang charge nitong kilala ko. Fluent siya sa Japanese. Mahilig lang talaga siya sa kulturang Hapon, at mahilig siyang tumulong sa may kailangan ng translations. Aaaand… I’m sure she’ll make time for you!” (translation: “Don’t worry, Jade. I’m sure the person I know will be free of charge. They’re fluent in Japanese. They just like Japanese culture, and they like helping people who need translations. Aaaand… I’m sure she’ll make time for you!”)

“Ah talaga? Thank you in advance, Abby. You’re a real lifesaver! Sino ba yung kilala mo?” (translation: “Oh really? Thank you in advance, Abby. You’re a real lifesaver! Who is this person you know?”)

“Si Althea!”, Abby said with a grin. (translation: “It’s Althea!”)

Jade suddenly started choking on her coffee mid-sip. Abby looked over at her in concern and started to stand up to check on her, and Jade waved her back. “I-I’m okay! I’m okay!”

“Are you sure okay ka lang, Jade? Parang nabulunan ka?” (translation: “Are you sure you’re okay, Jade? You seem to be choking?”)

“N-nagulat lang ako… you know, wrong pipe… Anyway, ano yung sabi mo? Si Althea??” (translation: “I was just s-surprised… you know, wrong pipe… Anyway, what did you say? It’s Althea??”)

“Oo! Fluent siya sa Japanese. Alam mo naman yun ang business niya. Nagdi-deal siya with suppliers from Japan lagi. I’m sure she’ll be happy to help you.” (translation: “Yes! She’s fluent in Japanese. You know what her business is like. She always deals with suppliers from Japan. I’m sure she’ll be happy to help you.”)

“Abby, I don’t know if this is a good idea…”

“Ano ang hindi good idea? My girlfriend always has the best ideas!” (translation: “What isn’t a good idea? My girlfriend always has the best ideas!”)

Jade looked up and saw Batchi walking towards their table. Batchi gave Abby a kiss on the cheek then sat down on one of the chairs. “Sorry medyo late ako, hon. Traffic kasi, eh.”  (translation: “Sorry I’m a bit late, hon. There was traffic.”)

“That’s okay, hon. I was just telling Jade na pwede siyang tulungan ni Althea sa problem niya with a Japanese supplier.” (translation: “That’s okay, hon. I was just telling Jade that Althea can help her with her problem with a Japanese supplier.”)

Batchi and Abby exchange knowing smirks which Jade pretends to not notice. “No guys… it’s okay. Ayokong abalahin siya. Maghahanap na lang ako ng translator.” (translation: “No guys… it’s okay. I don’t want to bother her. I’ll just look for a translator.”)

“Eh ba’t naman ayaw mo? Buti nga meron kang kilala na that has dealt with this type of situation before”, said Batchi. (translation: “Why don’t you want to work with her? It’s good that you already know someone who has dealt with this type of situation before.”)

“Oo nga naman, Jade! Ba’t ka pa maghahanap pa? Baka maloko ka lang ng mga student translator dyan na hindi magaling. Kaya yan ni Althea, she’s helped other people before”, Abby added. (translation: “That’s right, Jade! Why would you look for a translator? You might get scammed by student translators that aren’t any good. Althea can handle this, she’s helped other people before.”)

At seeing Jade still looking hesitant and seemingly about to protest the idea some more, Batchi immediately cut in with “O, don’t tell me na hindi mo siya kaya harapin na walang inuman, ha? Friends na kayo, ‘di ba?” (translation: “Oh, don’t tell me that you can’t face her without drinking, eh? You’re friends now, right?”)

Friends?? Jade suddenly has an urge to tell Batchi to go to hell. For some reason, the idea of her and Althea being platonic friends that hanged out like besties sat uncomfortably with her.

She looked over at Abby and Batchi’s smirking faces and clenched her jaw. “Batchi, don’t be silly. Hindi ako alcoholic ha. Of course, kaya ko siyang kausapin na walang inuman! Kung kaya nya kong tulungan, then good!” (translation: “Batchi, don’t be silly. I’m not an alcoholic. Of course, I can speak to her without drinking! If she can help me, then good!”)

“O buti naman! Okay, ite-text ko ngayon ang address ng shop niya sa yo. Malapit lang yun dito, actually! We can drop you off on our way back so you can ask her in person!”, Abby said cheerfully. (translation: “Oh that’s good! Okay, I’ll text the address of her shop to you. Actually, it’s near here! We can drop you off on our way back so you can ask her in person!”)

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Jade slapped herself mentally for agreeing with Abby and Batchi, but it was too late to back out now. She followed the two reluctantly to their car and let herself be dropped off in front of shop with a very distinctive design. The front display window was full of colourful figurines and the huge sign above the door said “Other Worlds”. Jade steeled herself before she walked in. She could do this! No need to feel weird at all. Her and Althea were on neutral terms now, right? She could totally be Althea’s friend…

Upon entering the door, she immediately spots Althea who is bending over one of the display tables, carefully setting up some action figurines. And she’s wearing a boob tube and mini-skirt. “Eff my life,” Jade said to herself as she tried to avert her eyes from Althea’s chest and failed.

Althea looks up to check which new customers have entered the store and is surprised to see Jade standing there looking at her and biting her lip. “Jade! Ah… k-kumusta na?” (translation: “Jade! Ah… h-how are you?”)

She puts the figurines back on the table and walks up to Jade.  “Did you get home okay after…”, Althea blushes a little, then mumbles “Umm, never mind… So, umm… what brings you here?” 

Jade shakes her head and is unable to stop herself from doing another quick scan of Althea’s outfit. Knee-length combat boots, very short mini-skirt, white sweater tied around the middle and pale blue boob tube. She also appeared to be wearing some sort of leather straps on her shoulders which on closer inspection, appeared to be a gun holster.

“Althea… umm, hi… Batchi and Abby just dropped me off because… umm, because… A-are those real guns??”

“Ah, ito?”(translation: “Ah, these?”), Althea said gesturing to her shoulder holster. She laughed a little and took the guns out and waved them around a little. “They’re just fakes! I’m having a Resident Evil and Sabagebu promo today. Resident Evil actually has some manga editions, and I got some figurines for the gamers as well. Nearly all sold out!”

Jade had no idea about anything of what Althea just said. It also probably didn’t help that she was busy trying to subtly check out Althea’s cleavage yet again.

"You know Resident Evil? The one with Milla Jovovich and Sienna Guillory? They're umm, former fashion models?", Althea tried to explain, hoping to find some common ground. Jade seemed transfixed by something on her outfit though, so she just changed the topic.

“So umm, Jade… ba’t nadayo ka dito ngayon? A-are you looking for a gift for someone?” (translation: "So umm, Jade… why did you come here today? A-are you looking for a gift for someone?”)

Jade was suddenly stuck for words. It had seemed easy to bluntly ask Althea for a favour and be civilised, but right now she was tongue-tied and unable to stop glancing at Althea’s chest and legs.

Starting to feel a little uncomfortable under Jade’s scrutiny and wondering if she was going to make a quip about how denim mini-skirts were so 1980s, Althea crossed her arms and started fidgeting on the spot a little. Should she bring up that she still had Jade’s blazer at her apartment? She felt embarrassed at having run off so quickly and forgetting she was still wearing it. Even now, she is remembering how she ended up wearing the blazer in the first place and it’s making her blush.

The door chime rings again indicating new visitors to the store.

“Ah Jade, excuse me muna ha? Ise-serve ko yung mga customers. Feel free to look around!” (translation: “Ah Jade, excuse me for a moment, okay? I have to serve these customers. Feel free to look around!”)

Jade nods and starts walking around the store. There were a lot of shelves with comics and graphic novels, neatly sorted in alphabetical order, as well as plenty of locked glass cases where rare, limited editions of comics and figurines were protectively kept. Jade raised an eyebrow at some of the steep prices for the items. Were people really wiling to pay thousands of pesos for such things?? She walks back to the more reasonably priced shelves and curiously browses through a few mangas. Many had English translations, a few had Tagalog translations while the rest were in the original Japanese script. Jade glanced over at the DVD section and noticed adult men and women picking up some of the pricier box sets and taking them to the counter to pay for them.

“This store is doing pretty well”, Jade thought to herself as she watched Althea ring up the purchases and cheerfully chat with her customers. She noted the way the store was neatly laid out and the various promotional tie-ins. There were signs that linked to the shop’s online store and further information about various Japanese culture and sci-fi events. Althea had a pretty solid marketing strategy, and Jade didn’t want to admit it to herself, but she was impressed.

The door chimes again and a bunch of teenage girls with red, grey, purple, pink and brown wigs suddenly roll in. Jade looks at them curiously. The tallest girl with a purple wig is wearing white boots, shorts, blazer, belt and tie. The rest of the girls appear to be wearing school uniforms. To Jade’s shock, the girls suddenly whip out guns from under their clothes and take up combat stances!

“Prepare for battle!”,  announces the girl in the purple wig, clearly the leader of the bunch.

Jade is freaked out and worries about Althea’s safety, but Althea merely ducks and rolls to the side, taking cover behind one of the shelves, and pulls out her toy guns from their holsters. Althea and the group mimic shooting motions at each other which confuses Jade even more. The whole thing does look kinda funny and cute with the girls saying “bang bang!” in lieu of the fake guns making the sounds, but Jade has no idea what game they’re playing. Finally, the whole group breaks into laughter.

“Mission completed!”, says the girl in the purple wig.

Althea walks over the girls and greets them warmly. “Welcome! Welcome! You’re just in time! The complete box set of Sabagebu arrived today!"

The girls squeal excitedly and grab the box set that Althea pointed out to them and fawn over a platypus figurine. The girl with the grey wig compliments Althea on her outfit and Althea thanks her and they have a brief discussion about how awesome the Kayo character from Sabagebu is. The girls purchase the items they picked out and Althea waves at them cheerfully as they leave the store.

With the two of them alone in the store again, Althea walks back over to Jade. “Ay sorry ha. Medyo busy kasi ngayon kasi day off yung isang assistant ko.” (translation: “Hey, sorry. It’s a bit busy today because one of my assistants had a day off.”)

“That’s okay, I just had a look around. Your store is, umm… it’s umm… interesting! Those kids earlier were umm… umm, they were interesting too…”, Jade stammers. She curses her brain for being so faulty today.

Stuck for anything else to say, Althea scratches her head and tries to think of what to say next. Jade similarly again faces the dilemma of figuring out how to ask Althea for what she came for, so they end up just looking at each other in silence for a bit. To add to the awkwardness, the two suddenly happened to speak at the same time in an attempt to break the silence.

“Althea…”

“Jade…”

Then from her peripheral vision, Althea suddenly noticed a car parking in front of her shop and instantly recognised whose it was. To Jade’s shock, Althea suddenly turned around, ran and dived over the store counter and hid underneath. Jade quickly marched over behind the counter to find out what the heck was going on.

“Althea! What are you doing??”

“Ssshhh! ‘wag mong sabihin andito ako!”, Althea whispered urgently. (translation: “Ssshhh! Don’t say that I’m here!”)

“Ano?? Bakit? Sino ba ang pinagtataguan mo dyan?” (translation: “What?? Why? Who are you hiding from?”)

“My ex!!”

Jade rolled her eyes. “Eh, di barilin mo.”, she said sarcastically. (translation: “Eh, just shoot them.”)

Althea frowned at her and was about to say something back when the door opened and a surly woman with long hair walked in. Althea looked up at Jade from under the counter and pleaded with her silently for her to not blow her cover. She got on her knees and clasped her hands together in a begging pose and looked up at Jade mouthing “Please!”.

Jade looked down at Althea’s big, brown eyes and melted. It also didn’t help that she had an amazing view of Althea’s cleavage from this angle… This wasn’t quite how she pictured Althea being on her knees and she gulped a little. She looked away and composed herself, then pretended to be busy fixing up at the cash register.

Wila glared at the pretty new girl behind the counter and marched right up to her.

“Nasaan si Althea?” (translation: “Where’s Althea?”)

“Ah… w-wala ho dito, ma’m. Ah, nasa… umm, nasa Japan…”. Jade hoped her lame excuse sounded plausible. (translation: “Ah… n-not here, ma’m. Ah, she’s… umm, she’s in Japan…”)

Wila frowned and asked, “Ano?? Kelan siya babalik?” (translation: “What?? When is she coming back?”)

“Hindi ko po alam.” (translation: “I don’t know.”)

Wila sighed irritably. “Sige, balik na lang ako bukas.” (translation: “Fine, I’ll just come back tomorrow.”)

Althea tugged at Jade’s dress pleadingly below the counter and mouthed “‘wag bukas!”(translation: “not tomorrow!”) to her. Jade once again caved at the sight of those big, luminous eyes.

“Ah, actually ma’m, sabi po niya baka i-extend nya yung stay nya doon. Madami kasi kailangang hanapin na items.” (translation: “Ah, actually ma’m, she said she might extend her stay there. She has a lot of items to search for.”)

“Ano?? Hanggang kelan?” (translation: “What?? Until when?”)

“Forever!”, Althea mouthed to Jade. Jade refrained from rolling her eyes at Althea and ignored her outlandish suggestion.

“Hindi ko po talaga alam, pero mas matagal pa ho kaysa next week.” (translation: “I really don’t know, but it’s longer than next week.”)

Wila put her hands on her hips and looked over Jade more closely. “Alam mo, parang hindi ka yong tipong mahilig sa anime…”, Wila notes suspiciously. (translation: “You know, you don’t seem like the type to like anime…”)

“No, I… I really love it”, Jade says painstakingly.

Wila raises an eyebrow at her and Jade groans internally at what she is about to say next.

“P-paborito ko yung… Attack on Titan… s-saka yung mga Studio Ghibli…”, Jade mumbles lamely. (translation: “My f-favourite is… Attack on Titan… a-and the Studio Ghibli ones…”)

From under the counter, Althea puts her hand over her mouth to stifle her giggles. Jade can feel Althea shaking with hidden laughter beside her leg. She clenches her jaw and resolves to take revenge later.

“Hmmph, what a nerd!”, Wila says dismissively as she turns up her nose and walks out. Jade suddenly feels like strangling the horrible woman. What was Althea even thinking when she dated that bitch?? She could do so much better.

When the door closed behind Wila, Althea finally let her laughter burst out. Jade yanked her up from off the floor by her shoulder holster.

“Hey! Is this the thanks I get??”

Althea tried to calm herself until the last of her giggles finally died out. She then gave Jade a bear hug which surprised Jade. “Thank you soooo much, Jade! You’re a lifesaver! I definitely owe you one!”

Jade hesitated for a moment then hugged her back. “Mmm, so soft… smells soooo good”, was the only thought swimming through Jade’s brain at that moment and her hands wandered a little down Althea’s back. When she finally managed to get some control back over the primitive part of her brain, Jade took a hold of Althea’s shoulders and stepped back a little so she could face Althea. Jade then smirked knowingly and Althea gulped a little at the gleam in her eyes.

 “Althea… I know how you can pay me back.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For those who’ve never heard of the Resident Evil franchise(are you living under a rock??), Jill Valentine is a character in the games and movies. People love her impractical-for-fighting-zombies miniskirt ensemble which can be seen here: <http://www.fanpop.com/clubs/jill-valentine/images/22677437/title/resident-evil-mercenaries-3d-alternate-outfit-photo>
> 
> More info on Jill for those interested: <http://residentevil.wikia.com/wiki/Jill_Valentine>
> 
> I had Althea cosplaying as Jill to promote sales of Resident Evil and Sabagebu because I’m quite fond of Kayo, the quiet otaku nerd girl from Sabagebu, who of course, also dresses up as Jill Valentine. Definitely one of the funniest characters I’ve ever seen. Sabagebu(Survival Club) is a hilarious anime where girls shoot at each other with airsoft guns and go over the top when it comes to their war games. The delightfully remorseless lead character, Momoka, really cracks me up as well. Her battle with Kayo was the best!
> 
> Anyway, the girls that visit Althea’s store in this chapter that pretended to have a gun battle with her are dressed up as the Survival Club members. More info here: <http://myanimelist.net/anime/20709/Sabagebu!>


End file.
